Best Small Linux distro?

BBQdave · #1 30th September 2011, 05:42 AM

What is your experience with Small Linux distros? What would you recommend?

I am going to be traveling for a couple of weeks; and along with my laptop, I keep a Small Linux distro (CD) and my data backed up to a usb drive in case of hardware failure. Like to think I am prepared and not paranoid

I have used Tiny Core Linux and Puppy Linux for data rescue and an emergency work station. Any other good Small Linux distros out there?

Thanks, BBQdave

JamesNZ · #2 30th September 2011, 06:20 AM

I tried out DSL a little while ago. It's very small (50MB), it's got pretty much everything you'd need for basic stuff (web browser etc). The interface is a little clunky but you could always install themes.

Overall it's a good distro but a little bare bones if you don't explicitly need a tiny install size.

jroa1 · #3 30th September 2011, 07:14 AM

I was under the impression that DSL has not been maintained in several years. I may be wrong, though.

ah7013 · #4 30th September 2011, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jroa1

I was under the impression that DSL has not been maintained in several years. I may be wrong, though.

That sounds about right. Their last release was back in 2008:
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=dsl

smr54 · #5 30th September 2011, 01:29 PM

Puppy and possibly Slax are two that are made to run from CD. There's a few others, not sure if tinycore is meant to be used out of the box, or more of a framework. Arch has an install that can be burned to a CD or USB, but I'm not sure if it includes a working live version.

To me, Puppy is pretty much the modern day equivalent of DSL, but it's not something I use frequently--still it would be my first recommendation for simple, usually works out of the box, meant to run from CD or USB.

Golf4Fun · #6 30th September 2011, 02:28 PM

Parted Magic is a utility distro but works very well as a live CD or USB system. The image is an iso of around 128meg

ryptyde · #7 30th September 2011, 03:26 PM

AUSTRUMI based on Slackware, lightweight and fast.

phil

boydrice · #8 30th September 2011, 03:58 PM

SliTaz is a nice small distro. Proteus is a continuation or fork of Slax I believe. While it doesn't qualify as small KNOPPIX is still great to have on hand if needed.

BBQdave · #9 30th September 2011, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boydrice

While it doesn't qualify as small KNOPPIX is still great to have on hand if needed.

KNOPPIX was one distro I was curious about. I will check it out.

And thanks for the replies and suggestions

robvas · #10 30th September 2011, 05:32 PM

Fedora runs great off a live USB setup

roelj · #11 30th September 2011, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robvas

Fedora runs great off a live USB setup

I second that. It's really easy too with the liveusb-creator. Even persistent storage is just sliding the slider in the GUI..

bonedome · #12 30th September 2011, 08:39 PM

My vote goes to fluppy, if I remember correctly it's pupeee (which is puppy built specifically for eeepc) with all the drivers you need, it's worked on everything I've plugged it into anyway

JamesNZ · #13 30th September 2011, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jroa1

I was under the impression that DSL has not been maintained in several years. I may be wrong, though.

Oops, time to clean out my forgettery